CLEVELAND, Ohio - Services were Friday for international chess champion Anatoly Lein, who died Thursday in Beachwood. He was 86 and a resident of Shaker Heights.

The Berkowitz-Kumin-Bookatz Funeral Home, which handled arrangements, did not cite a cause.

Lein emigrated from the former Soviet Union in 1976, according to his family.

"Anatoly was a giant in the chess world," his stepdaughter, Aimee Gilman, said in an email. "At his height, he was one of the five best players in the world, and was Cleveland's only international grandmaster."

A winner of the World Open, Lein was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame in 2004 and was the author of at least four books on chess.

An engineer by profession, he moved to Greater Cleveland to be close to his in-laws. He was less than enthused about the local weather, he told a Plain Dealer reporter in 1999, but not for the usual reason.

Chess Life magazine referred to Cleveland as "GM city USA" -- GM as in grandmaster -- in 1999 because of its influx of top chess players including Lein. He was at that time ranked first among American senior citizens, and tied for first in some senior world championships.

His wife of almost 40 years, the former Barbara Gottlieb, predeceased him two weeks ago.

Surviving, in addition to his stepdaughter, are two stepsons and four grandchildren.